UAE’s renewables giant Masdar has broken ground on its 250 MW Nur Bukhara solar plant with a 63 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Uzbekistan, the company said on Friday. The project is the first of its kind in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) — a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia — and is set to start commercial operations by the end of the year, according to Masdar’s website.

Masdar recently secured funds for the project: The company secured a total of USD 159 mn in loans, and USD 12 mn in guarantees from a number of international organizations for the construction last month. The financiers included the World Bank, the IFC, the Asian Development Bank, and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank.

About the project: The project — which will stand as Central Asia’s first renewable power facility with a utility-scale battery storage system — plans to offset around 327k metric tons of CO2, generate around 585 GWh of energy annually, and power 75k houses.

Masdar 💚Uzbekistan: Masdar completed the connection of four of its solar and wind power farms totalling 1.4 GW to Uzbekistan’s electricity grid last January. The UAE firm also actively contributed to Uzbekistan’s first 100 MW IPP solar project Nur Navoi, which has been in operation since 2021.

And more is on the way: Masdar was awarded the 300 MW Guzar Solar PV project which boasts a 75 MWh storage capacity. The renewables firm signed an implementation agreement with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy and its Ministry of Investments, Industry and Trade, to develop an additional 2 GW of wind energy projects, as well as expand its storage capacity to 1.15 GWh in January. The storage projects will be spread across five existing Masdar projects and bring Masdar’s total Uzbekistan investments to approximately USD 4 bn.

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